History Characters / TheDeparted

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:She winds up pregnant, with both potential fathers dead. Though it's strongly implied that Costigan is the real father.]]

* WickedCultured: He goes to an opera play, along with two of his lovers. Somehow he seems to enjoy it as he quietly shooshed one of his girls. He also seems to enjoy drawing, and is fairly good at it.

* BadBoss: He constantly threatens to murder his underlings if they displease him. He kicks it up a notch at one point with Sullivan, threatening to have his girlfriend raped if he doesn't find the mole. Costigan also mentions that he doesn't pay much.

* GutturalGrowler: He has Alec Baldwin's famous commanding voice.

* UltimateJobSecurity: His extensive undercover work and the fact that he seems to be a damn good cop are the only reasons he probably hasn't been fired, especially given how he blatantly insults Captain Ellerby who mostly just takes it in stride. That said, Ellerby does suspend Dignam after the latter assaults Sullivan, indicating that there are limits to how much his superiors are willing to put up with.

%%* DestinationDefenestration

* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:At the near end when he's caught by Costigan.]]

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Inverted; he is the last good guy to die.]]

* CanonForeigner: While the movie is far from a one-to-one remake of ''Film/InternalAffairs'', Dignam is notable for being the only major character with no equivalent to the original movie series. [[spoiler:He exists purely to ensure that Sullivan, whose ''IA'' equivalent [[KarmaHoudini got away with all of his crimes]], [[AdaptationalKarma doesn't get to survive the movie this time]].]]

* OfficerOHara: He's a swearer, and he's also played by native Bostonian Mark Wahlberg, who uses his native accent instead of anything else.

* VitiolicBestBuds: With Dignam. The two have worked together long enough that Ellerby takes his foul-mouthed abuse in stride and even matches him in turn.

* DirtyCoward: He'll do anything not be exposed and risk going to jail.

!!William "Billy" Costigan Jr.

* CoolOldGuy: He's the nicest character in the movie.

* HatesEveryoneEqually: He doesn't ''particularly'' hate most of the people he antagonizes and bullies; he's just an abrasive, foul-mouthed person by nature. It's only Sullivan who genuinely draws Dignam's ire which turns out to be for good reasons.

** As harsh and borderline sadistic as it is, his assessment of Billy, that he's caught between two worlds and trying to become a trooper simply to distance himself from his family's criminal background, is not inaccurate.

!The Rats

!!William "Billy" Costigan Jr
->'''Played By:''' Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio

-->''"You sit there with a mass murderer. A mass murderer. Your heart rate is jacked, and your hand... steady. That's one thing I figured out about myself in prison. My hand does not shake... ever."''

->'''Played By:''' Creator/MattDamon

!The Police

->'''Played By:''' Creator/MartinSheen

->'''Played By:''' Creator/AlecBaldwin

->'''Played By:''' Creator/MarkWahlberg

A tough sergeant and the number two for captain Queenan.

->'''Played By:''' Creator/AnthonyAnderson

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:He was killed by Barrigan this way.]]

->'''Played By:''' Creator/JamesBadgeDale

!Costello's Gang

->'''Played By:''' Creator/JackNicholson

->'''Played By:''' Creator/RayWinstone

->'''Played By:''' David O'Hara

* FakeNationality: A native Irish immigrant played by Scottish actor David O'Hara.

->'''Played By:''' Creator/MarkRolston

!Other Characters

!!Dr Madolyn Madden
->'''Played By:''' Creator/VeraFarmiga

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Averted. Madolyn does not know anything about Colin being a mole and when she discovers it [[spoiler:she refuses to speak to him for the rest of the film and is implied to have sent the tapes implicating him to Dignam.]]

->'''Played By:''' Kevin Corrigan

* AntiHero: He has to do some really shady things while undercover, such as participating in murder. Granted, his therapy sessions and behind-the-scenes turmoil show that he ABSOLUTELY doesn't enjoy doing it.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: His paternal family are mostly shady crooks (and are mostly dead or in prison), save for his father a baggage handler who married an UptownGirl, but later divorced her, with Billy going back and forth between their households. His mother's family is implied to have looked down on his father, and only one maternal cousin bothered to attended William Sr.'s funeral, or remain in close enough contact with Billy afterwards to find out he planned to become a cop. He flat out says to his mom's brother that he doesn't want anything to do with him after her funeral, but also seems a little ashamed of his paternal relatives, especially when Queenan and Dignam grill him over them.

* BrokenAce: He's a certified genius, a skilled fighter, and a competent policemam ''and'' criminal. But, he also suffers a tremendous amount of stress from what he is forced to do in the mob, and has a lot of clear psychological issues.

* StupidEvil: [[spoiler:He switched out the microprocessors for fakes when he tried to sell to the Chinese. If they weren't arrested, Costello would probably have had to put up with a gang war for screwing them over.]]

* [[spoiler:UndercoverCopReveal: He's actually an undercover BPD officer. [[TheUnreveal Or perhaps not]] - Costello seems to think this is a ploy.]]

* {{Expy}}: Of Irish-American mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.[[note]]There was a real-life Italian-American mob boss named Frank Costello (the surname is found both among Irish and Italians), but he didn't have much in common with the character other than the name.[[/note]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: He comes across as a charismatic guy for at most, a few seconds, before revealing what a depraved psychotic he truly is.

* {{Expy}}: Of Irish-American mobster James "Whitey" Bulger.